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Topic Review (Newest First)

12-07-2012 07:16 AM

Kayen

Yeah, updates do take awhile sometimes! I need to find a nice foreground/background plant to swap in... need to be undemanding.

12-06-2012 12:58 PM

Merth

I love how these tanks go 9 months without an update and then boom here we go again. I m no expert by any means but I think your idea to remove some of the sag from the front (just a bit) will make a world of difference. It looked IMO a lot better when the bit of substrate was bare in the front.

12-06-2012 08:43 AM

Kayen

Yeah, it's a bit of a less, and I have less ferns there now. I'm thinking of removing some of the dwarf sag at the front for something else that's shorter to give it a better contrast, but given tank conditions I don't think I can support much else in terms of foreground plants.

So will be background plants now. Any suggestions? I do agree that it is too bare (hardscape) on that one side and it will be need some plants to help bolster it.

12-06-2012 02:38 AM

riverdragon

This tank reminds me of one of my tanks right now! (Except my tank is 10 gal, and up to its ears in sagittaria rather than tenellus.)

I'm excited to read this thread because I'm dreaming of getting a 40 b myself. What I love about this size tank is the depth from front to back. Most other tanks seem so narrow to me. I think the problem is that I actually want a pond in the house! But anyway, what I wanted to say, which is actually related to your tank, is that I wish you would use that depth a little more to your advantage. When I look at the pictures, if I didn't know this tank is a 40 b, I might not realize it - though you have a lot of plant mass there. Especially over on the left side. Somehow I'm wanting more variety in texture or shape from the plants there, maybe something less grassy for contrast with what is there. I was a bit less bothered by it in the pictures from March, as you left the plants in the back a bit taller, but even then I crave more contrast so that I can see how far back the tank really goes. The right side is better with this because of your hardscape and crypts and whatnot in the back to give a point of reference for the space.

Of course, I can't really talk - right now my 10 gallon is kinda just a jungle of grass with zebra danios flashing by every once in a while. But hey, at least it's all growing!

Also, I agree with what bsmith said about hardscape.

Also also, that gold colored angel fish is super pretty!

12-05-2012 06:00 AM

Kayen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Xavier

Hold on...since when do you have an aquarium with water in it?

Since forever.
That said - This tank hasn't had an update, nor maintenance.
Last time it got a trim was in march. That said cloudy water is an issue, any inputs - has been cloudy for 3-4 months.

I apologize for poor quality smart phone pic

03-24-2012 04:07 AM

Francis Xavier

Hold on...since when do you have an aquarium with water in it?

03-23-2012 06:09 AM

.Mko.

some updates from his tank. too lazy to post them up =D taken via his cell phone.
I finally fixed his Co2 now its back up and running. Hopefully that will spark growth in his dwarf sag again.

01-08-2012 09:15 PM

bsmith

Quote:

Originally Posted by .Mko.

He looks kinda emo with those eyes haha

Thats funny as hell!

01-08-2012 09:13 PM

.Mko.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayen

Got a pic of the Cleft-lipped Goby :

Also, I totally understand with the modern look, some of the stands with the extra trimming touches look too "fancy" or excessive. Simplicity in furnishings can really be beautiful alot of the times.

As i've learned with hockey goalie gear - sometimes doing it yourself is best (alot of my gear is customized and hand modded by myself to my own likings) - so it can definitely apply to the aquarium hobby as well with some vision applied.
It can definitely be seen with some DIY projects i've seen here in the past when i was more active.

He looks kinda emo with those eyes haha

01-07-2012 08:43 AM

Kayen

Quote:

Originally Posted by .Mko.

he also added a "gold spot stiphodon goby" and Sicyopterus cynocephalus (Cleft-lipped Goby) to the 10 gallon as a new experiment for algae eaters.

Got a pic of the Cleft-lipped Goby :

Also, I totally understand with the modern look, some of the stands with the extra trimming touches look too "fancy" or excessive. Simplicity in furnishings can really be beautiful alot of the times.

As i've learned with hockey goalie gear - sometimes doing it yourself is best (alot of my gear is customized and hand modded by myself to my own likings) - so it can definitely apply to the aquarium hobby as well with some vision applied.
It can definitely be seen with some DIY projects i've seen here in the past when i was more active.

01-07-2012 08:33 AM

.Mko.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsmith

Thanks guys (hopefully, sorry if not!). That's what I was hoping to hear. I have made more than just a few similar posts to people journals and was greeted to either their misplaced anger or their sobs and them saying how they might just end up taking the tank down, etc, boo hoo hoo. I couldn't take it. So to say I was a bit trepidacious about posting true, direct, helpful constructive criticism here would be an understatement. Not only because taking the time to dissect your tank with my eyes and mind is time consuming but also putting the effort to give you my best direction and then typing it out is also not as simple as saying 'nice work, keep it up'!

But I felt that from what I saw you obviously do care about your hobby and aren't just wasting your money on a hobby that will be packed away in the basement in the next three months and joined our site to just post threads with questions that have painfully obvious answers and reject any views/opinions that vary from your own even the slightest bit.

Plus I have a 40b sitting in my basement awaiting its filling only because I cannot find/make a stand that doesn't rind me of a Dr's office or some other sterile environment!

What is yours being supported by?

Want to give constructive criticisms on my tank too? jk you dont have to if you don't want to. I get a lot of "good jobs" and a few tips but not to the degree that you dished out. I'd love that. Me and Kayen both really enjoy the size and depth of the 40B and both would take your points to consideration the next time we work on the tank.

01-07-2012 08:15 AM

bsmith

It's amazing what we can out together with little to no funding when we have a goal in mind.

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to employ my father in law again perhaps to make a stand for my 40b. He and I made the ADA style stand that my 60-p is on in my journal in my sig. It's just that it will be in the front den near the entry of my home and across the entry way is our dining room which is filled with very nice furniture and trying to put something together that compliments that room. The problem is that I have a problem with just about every offering I can find for a stand/hood because it is just too country/kitchen table looking IMO. I really like contemporary style when it comes to tank furniture, exposed metal/glass/not all ornate and warm feeling. What to do!?!?

01-07-2012 07:57 AM

Kayen

About 3 years back, I was supported by a shoestring budget, and what ever i made from selling excess HC in that emersed iwagumi cube i had for awhile.

As for now, nothing really, that 40b was thrown together on spare cash here and there. We were thinking of re-doing the 10 as well, but also the 40. Going to wait for it to warm up a bit up here (actually it's really warm up here - typically there's 3 feet of snow on my lawn at this time of year - this year ... i can see almost all the grass) - and go to a rockyard, see what i can find.

As for a lower lying plants - think downoi would do well in a CO2 free lower lit tank?
If you meant stand - 1" thick plywood painted green. On a home made stand originally made for my 33, but works for my 40B as well.

01-07-2012 07:50 AM

bsmith

Thanks guys (hopefully, sorry if not!). That's what I was hoping to hear. I have made more than just a few similar posts to people journals and was greeted to either their misplaced anger or their sobs and them saying how they might just end up taking the tank down, etc, boo hoo hoo. I couldn't take it. So to say I was a bit trepidacious about posting true, direct, helpful constructive criticism here would be an understatement. Not only because taking the time to dissect your tank with my eyes and mind is time consuming but also putting the effort to give you my best direction and then typing it out is also not as simple as saying 'nice work, keep it up'!

But I felt that from what I saw you obviously do care about your hobby and aren't just wasting your money on a hobby that will be packed away in the basement in the next three months and joined our site to just post threads with questions that have painfully obvious answers and reject any views/opinions that vary from your own even the slightest bit.

Plus I have a 40b sitting in my basement awaiting its filling only because I cannot find/make a stand that doesn't rind me of a Dr's office or some other sterile environment!

What is yours being supported by?

01-07-2012 07:21 AM

.Mko.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsmith

Ill comment on the scape and hopefully the OP can handle constructive criticism it is 100% something I wish were used more on this site but since this is a very, very friendly and close knit community people don't want to seem brash or appear to be callus or insensitive. Also from what I have found being a member on this and other sites for as long as I have is that in the vast majority of journals where the OP is looking for comments, they don't like hearing that someone has anything to say other than "WOW gorgeous or what a masterpiece". I think it would be a disservice to this site if everyone said that about everyone's tanks, then we would never learn anything. So hopefully you will use what I'm going to say to make your tank a true aquatic beauty concerning the scape. You look to have the husbandry side down alright as your plants all look relatively healthy and are certainly growing well enough.

So this brings up the actual hard scape which is comprised of anything hard like wood or rock and could be categorized as just about anything in the planted tank that does not grow. Your thin pieces of manzanita are overwhelmed/powered by the shear size of this tank. On top of them being not substantial enough they are in a spot, not sure if its due to the shape of the wood (very finger like) or the lack of something hard rooting it/tying it down to the tank instead of just the nice looking grouping of fern that is behind it. It appears that you have read up on some scaping techniques or have at least heard of the rule of thirds but pretty much what the latter boils down to is that whatever your focal point is it needs to be centered (or almost centered somehow) on an imaginary line if you were to divide the tank in to thirds from left to right. I cant explain why it is more pleasing to the eye laid out that way but I'm sure I can rekindle images of tanks with pink or neon blue inert pebbled substrate that had a bubbling skull/bubbling shipwreck/'no fishing' sign or any other myriad ridiculous petsmart/co tank decoration smack in the center of the tank. For obvious reasons the tank looked very bad but for not so obvious reasons we all knew something else was just not right. Well if they had positioned whichever aforementioned aquatic abomination just a bit more than slightly left/right of center at at least the tank would have been balanced.

You are certainly on the right track and as the plants mature things will get even better. If it were my tank I would be on the lookout for a big black/very dark angular stone that would be at a minimum tall enough to reach halfway up the height of the tank (at a minimum, you wouldn't want to risk it being overshadowed by the tank as well if you didn't rim the tank for a few weeks after when you normally do trimmings. In a perfect world this rock would almost hit the surface and if you couldn't find one that was big enough in width, I would seriously try to find one that was skinny and that you could have protruding from the rear like a mountain bursting from the sea!) to put at the the point where the manzanita emanates from/starts moving from the right to the left. I would also get some more of it that was even MORE curvacious and roughly 2x's-2.5x's thicker in diameter than the existing wood and perhaps even would start from the beginning point on the right and would be long enough and bend enough to where it would, at its highest point be about 2/3's tot he surface of the tank. If you could get 3-6 pieces of wood that could do that and put them over the existing pieces that would be amazing. Then under the branching DW hand you could have a nice thicket of crypt parva or any other very low to the ground, foreground plant you liked. Perhaps a parva thicket with a few bushes of Downoi to create more texture...

Couldn't you imagine your angels swimming playfully through the driftwood tendrils as they would in their native Amazonian home but there it would be through the actual roots and under-structure of the forest surrounding that great river? I sure can!

This is exactly what I like seeing too. Great post should be more like these.

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